Z*Trip @ Manor West, San Francisco

March 2, 2011

While the rest of San Francisco slept last Wednesday night, Z*Trip showed the crowed at Manor West why the 30 cover price was well worth it. I show up to Manor West and the door guy has no idea who or what was going on inside. I tried to confirm the this is where Z-Trip was tonight. He replied, “You are like the 100th person to ask me that tonight. No, that party is across the street (pointing).” The girl who eventually took my 30 bucks runs up franticly to correct him.

Manor West is your typical SOMA club. Fancy wooden chandeliers hang dramatically from the ceiling. The place is wired with live-streaming video of the Z*Trip playing. And the VIP section is bigger then the dance floor. Basically the vibe is like walking through a Spike Lee film.

Z*Trip has total dance floor control the whole night. With a flip of his fader he can command the crowed to move however he likes. At one point this 21 year-old blonde girl jumps up to dance in front to Z*trip. He immediately stops the music and yells at the girl, “this ain’t your show. You don’t even know who MOP is.” Her boy puppet for the night pulls her down and he starts right back up.

The rest of the night the crowed was treated with breaks and beats that went from rock n’ roll breaks, then he throws in a reggae bassline, then lays over some rap, then drops the whole thing into a jungle track — all this without skipping a beat. Z*Trip kept asking the crowed, “who’s calling in sick tomorrow?” I know I did. In case you’ve never heard the man that the now classic “Uneasy listening Pt. 1” mixtape. It was made with just records.